


I Can't Fix You

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: Vampire Eclipse [2]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: A New Form Of Cinderella, Back To The House, Bait, Ball shenanigans, Bluffing On The Spot, Closet Raiding, Dancing Legends, Dank Tunnels, Distrust, Everyone Being A Shipper, First Love, Happiness Spot, Hidden Mice, Huddling, I Had Too Much Fun As Usual, In-Jokes, Interrogation, Joey Being A Shipper, Make-up, New Group Peace, Ohhh boy, Past Escape, Past Hopelessness, Preparatory Phase, Shenanigans, The ExorSix, The Masquerade Begins, The SHIPPING Begins, They Will Never Be Forgotten, Vampire Glam, Vampire hunting, Vitriolic Connection, dysfunction junction, fluffy fluff, friendships, like an old married couple, mental distress, of sorts, vitriolic friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2020-09-26 02:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 15,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: The ExorSix are here and dangerous: Eva, Oli, Sierra, Matt H., Tim, and Lele. And Joey. And they don't trust Envy to help them fix their problem: Someone they love has gone missing. Masquerading as a group of vampires can only go downhill from here.They're so gonna do it anyway.





	1. The ExorSix Meets You

**Author's Note:**

> So, I got requests to continue (CHALA, Mystic, Cinna, Aqua, I'm probably gonna forget someone-), and here we are.

Eva, Sierra, Lele…

Matt H., Tim, Oli, and Joey.

Right?

I thought I had that right…

But what were they doing here?

This place would be a death trap if it had more vampires lurking about-

I drew in a sharp breath as Lele jammed the edge of her weapon into my chest.

“Don’t even try to get up”.

“He can’t”, Matt H. corrected.

“Yeah, we tied him up”.

That was Tim.

I think.

“Shut up Matt”.

“What’s…where am I?”

I didn’t dare move, even if I could’ve.

One look at her face and I knew she would be carving out my heart.

“_We_ ask the questions here, Sir-“

Eva uncapped her pen, and flipped to a blank page in the notebook she was holding.

“And we’ve got a lot of them.

So sit tight because this is gonna take awhile”.

“There’s nothing for me to tell you-

Ow!”

The blade cut into my skin!

“I’m saying the truth-“

“Sorry, I don’t understand Criminal”.

I ground my fangs together at the next burst of pain.

“Oh my God, Lele stop!!”

Sierra’s face was pale.

“You’re hurting the guy, geez!”

“Someone has to be Bad Cop”.

“You see why I don’t like her?”

“-Can we_ please_ just get on with it?”

Oli sounded exhausted and annoyed.

“Okay…”

Joey cleared his throat.

“Well for starters, who are you?”

“My name…”

I gulped.

“My name is Envy Flora”.

“That’s so weird”, Sierra giggled.

“Bet you $5 he has a green thumb”, Tim whisper-joked into her ear.

“Or he’s jealous all the time-“

“You’re a vampire”.

“I-I don’t know”.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Lele snapped.

“I don’t-I-I know my neck hurts, but I don’t remember anything before waking up here, I sweartoyou-“

One twist, and I was bleeding.

It was like a claw had torn me open-

“Are you going to keep playing stupid!?”

“You have the bites-everyone can see them!” Eva tapped the side of her collar.

Judging me.

“Even if I was, I wouldn’t hurt you!”

“I don’t really believe that”, Joey deadpanned.

“Alison was nice, though…”

Tim nudged Matt H.

“Wasn’t she?”

“What-oh yeah, she was”.

Lele rolled her eyes.

“B*s*”.

“Did you see her?”

Oli’s turn.

“See who?”

“….Should I poke him again?”

“No, wait!”

I strained to lift my hand.

“Who’s missing?”

“Andrea B.-“

“My Homegirl”, Tim said sadly.

Desperately.

He leaned over me, concern flickering over his features for an instant.

“She’s my best friend, practically…”

“I haven’t seen her. I’m sorry”.

Black dress, and copper curls, if I was remembering what she looked like correctly.

“We’re supposed to believe that!?”

Sierra was still smiling, but there was a hysterical look in her eyes.

“…Yes. What happened to her?”

“She was in the basement, and then she was gone”.

Oli appeared to be blinking back tears.

“We’re worried they might’ve taken her to be the Main Course for their sick Ball!”

Eva gripped the pen so hard I could hear the casing crack.

“I see”.

I’d never been to one myself, but that Bond had left images in my head that I wished I could scrub out.

“I’m afraid I don’t know where I am right now, much less where she might be…”

“You’re in the living room of Joey’s stupid cursed House”.

-Anything but that, I would’ve been expecting to hear.

My mouth dropped open!

_“What!?”_

“Thought I was pretty clear”.

Eva gave me a look.

“So you _do_ know where you are after all...”

Joey's tone was wounded at my...betrayal!?

“I didn’t even recognize it”.

The weight of what that meant settled onto my shoulders.

I began to shiver uncontrollably.

“I got out of here once-“

“Dude, how!?”

Tim was baffled, yet impressed.

“We had to like, kill people to leave!”

“I…”

I didn’t want to talk about it.

**Any** of it-

“I slit this big baby open for nothing!??”

“Real flattering description, Lele-“

“Matt, I _do not-!!”_

_“He doesn’t know anything!!”_ Sierra shrilled.

“Everybody will you please just **_calm_**. **_Down!!?”_**

Oli’s shout ricocheted through space and silence reigned.

They all stared at him in surprise.

“Thank you…!”

He sucked in a deep breath.

“Envy”.

I tensed, preparing myself for yet another round of this torture-

“Is there a way for you to get us in?”

“‘In’ what?”

“Their lair”.

_I_ was staring at him.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I can barely keep up with this conversation, let alone go anywhere…”

“He just doesn’t want to run into that creepy sicko again!’ Sierra accused.

“Would you?” Oli asked her.

“Wh-well…”

“I already told you that I’m basically lost anyhow…”

For an unbearably long stretch of time (probably only a couple of minutes in reality), no one said a word.

We just sat there, myself taking in the expressionless masks not even two inches in front of me.

What were they thinking!?

I had to know…

It was driving me crazy!!

Then they all nodded in _synch!?_

_How!!?_

Could it really be possible that they were on the same wavelength?

One thing was for sure-

It was freaking me out!!

“-So we made a decision…” Lele started, and a spike of panic jolted through me.

By this point, I was **_thoroughly_** scared of her.

Scared of what she might do to me…

“We’re not gonna let you go-“ Eva said firmly.

“-But we _are_ going to keep you from dying on us”, Joey finished.

“…”

What?

“Here’s the thang:”, Tim spread his arms.

“There is literally nothing here that we can use in this entire House to help you”.

Sierra had stopped glomming onto Eva so tightly, instead opting to just hang close by her side.

“So we have no choice but to turn you in”.

Matt H. sighed.

The little chlorophyll I had left in me, froze in my veins.

“…!”

“We don’t want to be responsible for letting you die-“

_Then why did you allow that terrifying blonde to-!?_

“-On our watch, which means that we’ll have to bring you to the basement…again”.

“No…”

“We’ll trigger their alarms or whatnot, and come in with you”.

“I’m…”

“You’ll be saved, and from there, we’ll be able to find Andrea”.

“I’m just a means to an end…”, I whispered.

A film of tears obscured Oli’s face from my vision.

“. . .”

It really was for naught.


	2. No Other Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oli is left with a harsh dilemma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS for mentioned abuse and a panic attack.

“What?”

I blinked.

“What does _that_ mean!?”

The Plant Man (Vampire?) wouldn’t look at me.

“You’re going to take me back…”

“Because we have to!”

“-_No_ you don’t!”

Anger radiated off of him, a slow simmering growing stronger by the second.

“That _can’t_ be the only way”.

“Well we can’t just march on in there! We’d die immediately!”

“You can’t find some way to kill them!?”

“-What he’s trying to say is that we’d be swarmed on sight”.

(I gratefully nodded to Eva).

“Yes. Exactly that”.

“Even so-“

“Why do you not want to go there so bad!?”

Sierra was confused.

“Don’t you live there?”

“For the last time…”

He met my eyes.

“I **don’t**.

I just woke up in this place with no idea how I’d gotten there”.

“That sounds just a teensy bit suspicious to me”.

Lele looked at me, the set of her neck indicating that she thoroughly believed she was in the right.

“I’m telling you the truth!”

The Mobster shrugged.

“Sorry man”.

“!”

“Yeah, never trust a creepy guy”.

Sierra's glare was somewhat tempered by the water at the corners.

I frowned.

“Matt? What do you think?”

“Ew. Don’t ask _him-!_”

“I honestly don’t know”.

“You see?

He’s unhelpful!

All of the time!!

24/7!!!

Why are we even still letting him hang around-“

“Well, he's kinda my friend…”

“Tim, find a _new_ friend”.

“-Right now?”

“Yes.

Right now!“

“Can you two stop!?” Joey shrilled.

“You sound like an old married couple!

All of the time!!

24/7!!!"

_Finally!_

Someone said it…!!

“Yes, can you both please stop?”

“He started it-“

“You were the one getting mad at me-“

“He started it by existing!!”

The Plant Man, meanwhile, was watching this train wreck unfold from his place on the couch.

“…You all will end up killing_ yourselves_ at this rate”.

...I.

Had to agree with him, unfortunately.

“Come on!

We don’t have time for this!!”

“-How do we know that we can trust you?”

_Thank you, Eva, you are a** Godsend**._

“What can I do to prove it!?”

He sounded quite desperate despite that roaring bluster of his…

“Oh, you want to prove it-?“

“Yes!”

Envy shifted his position on the seat, and I could _hear_ him bite down hard.

I knew he had to have been in a lot of pain…

“You can let us save your life”.

“No-“

“No?”

“Say what?” Tim echoed.

“I can’t-I don’t-“

“Don’t what?”

Lele put a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow of warning.

-Whose idea was it to give her the sharp weapon anyhow!?

Probably Joey’s, if I was being honest.

“I don’t want to see him again”.

Fear flickered in those faded irises of his.

“Th-they’ll make me get bonded to him-“

“Who _is_ that guy anyway?”

Sierra meant it as an innocent question…maybe, but he stiffened up as if she’d said something taboo.

“He’s my worst nightmare-and I can’t defend myself from him like this!!”

“What about when you’re feeling better?”

_“I won’t have limbs then!!”_

“What!?” Joey spoke for all of us.

“He-he wants to m-make me into a doll-“

His gaze became dangerously unfocused.

I could hear his breathing increase in speed.

Was he-

Was he h_aving a panic attack!?_

“Oi, Envy! Envy!!”

I gripped his shoulders, frantically running through every bit of first-aid I’d ever learned in my mind.

Would any of it apply to what was happening right now!?

“Can you hear me!?”

“Oli! He’s not gonna respond if you’re not calm”.

“I know, I know, I’m trying-“

Swallowing a gulp of air, I lowered my volume.

“Envy.

Envy, focus on my voice.

Can you hear me?”

There was again no response.

I was getting afraid he might run himself out of air, he was hyperventilating so fast!

“Hey!”

I moved one hand to his, and gripped it tightly.

He seemed to startle at the movement.

“Did you feel that?”

-A slight squeeze.

“Can you look at me?”

A slight movement of the head.

“…Okay”.

It wasn’t much but at least it was something.

“Will you let me help you?”

His fingers dug into mine with shocking strength!

“-Is that a yes?”

I wanted to be sure.

I’d never had to do this before…

The pressure on my knuckles increased.

“Ow-“

“Oli?”

“It’s fine…it’s fine…”

Eva was hovering over me, brows knit with worry.

“Oli, your thumb is turning purple-“

I took a deep breath.

And squeezed.

Held it…

Then released.

Took a deep breath…

Squeezed…

Held it…

Then released.

Took a deep breath…

“Do you feel what I’m doing?”

I kept the pattern up for a little while longer.

“Can you do this, too?”

Gradually…the hand strangling mine relaxed.

“…?”

Those green eyes of his met mine for the second time in a row.

They were clearer now, thank goodness.

“…Oli…you...”

“It’s no problem, mate.

Don’t worry about it”.

Releasing my own hand, I motioned for the others to join me in a huddle:

“Nice job Oli!” Sierra quietly cheered.

“Yeah, that was sick”.

Tim grinned.

“I guess you’re not so much the Weight after all”.

Lele flashed me a small smile.

“Oli was _never_ the dead weight!” Eva defended.

“No”, she agreed, “That was Matt”.

“You _do_ realize I am right here”.

“Not again…” Joey groaned.

“Guys?”

They snapped to at the sound of my voice.

“Maybe we should rethink this”.

“You mean our plan?” Sierra asked.

“We all saw what happened just now-

If we make him do this, we’ll be no better than the monsters who kidnapped Andrea!”

“True that!” Tim seconded.

“So what do you suggest we do instead?” Lele slapped the blade of her shovel into her palm.

Gearing up for battle, probably…

“We can’t sneak in…” Matt mused.

“-Actually, I bet we could”.

Eva had that sparkle in her eye: The one that told me she was up to something.

“There should be make up in this house somewhere, right Joey?”

“Um, I guess so.

Why?”

“Oh no-“

Ignoring the Professor’s moaning, she leaned in and whispered:

“What if…we could go undercover as vampires ourselves?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I didn't portray something right, please let me know and I will fix right away!!


	3. Make Me Up And Make Me Conceal It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Prep Group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! I almost survived the weeeek!!

“…You’ve been hanging around Lele too much”.

“I have not!”

I frowned.

_Of course_, Matt would be the one to hate on her plan…

“And besides, she’s my friend, so you’d better watch what you say”.

“What she said!”

The blonde thumped her shovel.

“If it’ll help us save Andrea, I’ll do it”, Tim said solemnly.

“Me too”.

Oli.

“But-but what if we got caught?

You said we’d get _swarmed-_“

“Don’t worry Sierra, I’ll protect you”.

“Tim…I don’t know”.

“-She makes a good point…actually…”

Joey’s hushed whisper was filled with caution.

“One wrong move and it will be all over for us”.

“Oh please!” Lele snorted.

“All we have to do is act crazy, and sexed up.

Easy”.

“For _you_, maybe-“ the annoying Professor retorted.

“Then please go ahead and die first”.

“Lele!” the Heiress half-laughed, half-gasped.

“Guys!” the Savant tag-a-long snapped.

“Stop it. We literally do_ not_ have time for this”.

“-Joey"

Where is the make-up in your house”.

Upstairs, he told them.

In my bedroom-my vanity.

Turns out beauty products were a thing in the 1920’s.

“Okay…who wants to stay here with the vampire?”

Matt didn’t sound very enthusiastic.

“I think you should”, I declared, “Because all you have done is stand there, and be pessimistic”.

“I only complained about your idea once”, he tried to protest.

“And I had a good point, too-“

“Yes! Stay down here where I will never have to speak to you again!!”

Lele was ecstatic!

“You want to leave him with the creep?”

“I’m not a creep…”.

(The man on the couch was so faint they couldn’t hear him).

“Creeps belong with creeps”, was the Hustler’s simple answer.

Sierra flicked a glance at him, and shivered.

“I don’t know…I _don’t know_, he just looks like the kind of guy you’d want to carry pepper spray around for, you know?”

“I can hear you…”

(He spoke, nobody heard him).

“I’m sure Matt can handle himself”.

I was _not_ about to suffer another hour with this quitter of a man!

“I can?”

“He can?”

“Yes, he can”.

“…I think so too”, Joey added.

“I think we should _all_ go”.

Sierra wasn’t backing down.

“You can stay down here with him”, Tim ventured innocently.

It was clear from the way he’d barely restrained himself from hopping around that he was eager to get to it.

“If we’re outnumbered, Prof”.

“-!”

She shot the man another shaky glance.

“Okay…”

“You’re not gonna stick with us”.

Matt H. sounded just a smidge betrayed, and in any other circumstances, she might’ve felt sorry for him.

“Sorry man”.

Tim shook his head.

“They hurt my Homegirl”.

“So it’s settled then”.

Oli looked very agitated, and I couldn’t really blame him.

“Let’s go”, Lele said confidently.

“-Maybe_ you_ should stay down! You have the shovel-“

“That’s for _you_ when you inevitably mess up!!”

“You-are _not_ being nice right now”.

He pointed at her accusingly.

“C’mon!” Joey interrupted, “If we don’t leave now, we’ll be dead before sunrise”.

A thread of irritation was in his voice.

“Fine!”

“Fine”.

“Good luck guys…”

I smiled at my friend reassuringly.

“We’ll be back soon, okay?”

We entered the house, and were immediately hit with the weirdest feeling…

It was**_ eerie_**.

No in-fighting from the Lounge…

No pretentious b*s*t from Arthur and Sarah…

Not even the demonic cackling of the Evil.

Our footsteps here, were the only sounds.

As we went by the hallway leading to the dining room, I shuddered and averted my eyes.

_Shane…_

My stomach clenched at the thought of his final moments.

_I was **so** stupid!_

_I should’ve realized right then and there that they were our enemies all along…_

Screams, pleas, echoing in my mind.

**Let me out let me out let me out**

“Eva?”

“…”

Blinking as if retreating from a daze, I met Lele’s eyes.

“-Sorry, what?”

Joey gave the knob a little twist, and slid open the drawer.

“Here it is”.

Lip sticks, and eye shadow, and blush-

“D*! You’ve got a whole Walgreens in here”, the Hustler exclaimed.

“I guess…”

He handed some out to the group, and together, we spent the next twenty minutes-to an hour prepping for the high-stakes mission to come.

“How do I look?”

Lele popped her lips in a blood-red kiss.

“Can I get your number?”

“Ooh, naughty!”

Tim grinned like the scamp he was.

“I think I did this wrong…”

Oli was fussing with his eyeliner in the mirror.

Sad to say…I had to agree.

Somehow, he’d managed to smudge it all over his forehead.

“Here, let me help”.

“Thanks Eva”.

Picking up a washcloth, I prepared to wipe the mess clean-

It was **dry**.

**I’d have to go back downstairs to the sink to get it.**

_-The bathroom!_

I decided on the spot.

_I’ll just stop by the bathroom and use the sink there._

** _It’ll work out okay-_ **

“I’ll do it”, Lele volunteered.

“You will?”

Oh g*d*n it, my lips were trembling all over the place-!

“Yeah”.

Plucking the amateur cosmetics remover from her fingertips, she disappeared through the doorway.

Loudly.

“Just hang on for a couple minutes”, I told him.

“…Yeah.

Alright”.

“That’s the last of it”.

Joey drew in a panicky breath of nerves, and smiled.

“Everybody ready to go tempt some vampires?”

“B*, I was _born_ ready!”

Lele flashed us all a flirtatious smirk.

“I’ve never flirted before…” Oli worried.

“Stick with Tim, and that won’t be a problem”, I sniped.

“Yeah stick with me, man”.

He thumped the pure boy on the back.

“We’ll be wooing all the ladies like _that!”_

***Snap!!***

“…All of them?”

“You’ll figure it out”, I assured him.

“How can they _not_ love you? You’re a total sweetheart”.

He blushed at the praise.

“-And here we have Mr. Tomato-“

“Tim, shut up”.

Lele cuffed him in the shoulder.

“Yeah! Don’t lewd our baby!!”

“Joey, what does that even mean!?”

The Hustler laughed herself out the door.

Swinging by the dining room on the return trip.

I caught a good, long glimpse of the interior: Sparkling hard-wood table, luxurious chairs...

I couldn't pull my eyes away from the bloodstained pillow still lying upon the floor.

...

"Eva?"

...

_"Eva!"_

...

**My fault.**

_"Hey!!"_

-Someone was persistently yanking my shoulder back and forth!!!

** _"EVA!!!!"_ **

"-What!?"

...

It was Lele.

"Are you okay?"

...

Oh dear God.

I'd gone and done it again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh. What could the matter be? Stay tuned...


	4. The Professor's Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt H. has an issue-nobody believes in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's another one!

Really.

They just_ had_ to throw me under the bus.

I was bristling.

_You know, you’re not exactly helping me ‘get over it’-_

“Matt…?”

Sierra’s small voice pulled me out of my own head.

“Everything okay?”

“…You looked like you wanted to punch someone”.

“Oh”.

I did?

-Yeah, I probably did.

“I was just wondering when they were going to come back”.

“Okay…”

She directed her attention to the dying vampire.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Not really”.

Ouch.

“Well, maybe I _am_ a little angry…”

I sighed.

“It’s just-they have no faith in me.

Except for Tim-“

“Yeah, I heard.

And I saw”.

I had the oddest feeling that there was a gap that needed to be filled.

“And?”

She shrugged.

“I don’t know”.

“What do you not know?”

“You wanted to save me, right?”

“They…told you”.

An even heavier sigh.

“Yup”.

“Well, I guess that means you’re allowed to hate me too”.

“I mean, it was a mistake, but I am a little salty”.

“Knew it”.

I called it.

“Though why you’re not currently treating me how everyone else does is a bit of a mystery, I have to say”.

“I think I’m just tired”.

“-Now _that_, I can relate to”.

She laughed slightly.

Seeing her here in front of me, so alive…

It was hard to believe that I’d once inadvertently extinguished that light.

“…What did you do?”

The vampire.

He did _not_ look good, I couldn’t lie.

“What did _I_ do?”

That was a long, long story.

“I had to choose who to save in a death challenge, but I made a stupid mistake, gave up, and then died”.

“-But you’re right here in front of me now…?”

“Some things happened”.

“Like…like what?”

“Joey managed to p* off someone called the Collector”.

I didn’t know when they’d return.

Had to make this quick.

“And she basically put a curse on this place after he broke her precious jar-“

“Who?”

“Some freaky lady in red”, Sierra squeaked.

“She had a snake for a side kick-it was really, really bad!”

“I personally disliked the raptors”.

“But how-how did you get away?”

“We had to like, hop realms”.

She ran her hands nervously over her arms.

“It was the most stressful thing ever-“

“Aside from the death challenges earlier that night.

Those-were just bad”.

“Not more of them-“

He coughed, green flecking his…coat…thing?

Was it a cloak, or a coat?

“-D-don’t strain yourself!”

She reached out a hand to do…I don’t know, to touch him or something-

Then I guess she thought better of it, and drew back.

“…”

Ooh.

I could already see it on his face-that gesture hadn’t gone over well.

“Hey-Envy, was it?”

“…What?”

Yikes.

“Your defenses just went waaay up, didn’t they?”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about”.

“It’s pointless to lie…I did it, too”.

I reached out my own hand.

Not once did I pull it away.

“It didn’t help me any”.

“So?”

His eyes followed my hovering fingers.

I gently lowered them, and lightly gripped his shoulder.

“So, what I’m saying is that-we don’t have to keep up this senseless fighting”.

_Wish they were all here to see this…_

“If we work together, we can save both Andrea _and_ you”.

“…You really mean that?”

“I do”.

“But why? You don’t know me that well…”

“And we don’t know you.

That doesn’t mean we can’t get to know each other or anything”.

“-Right”.

He sounded dazed.

Like what I’d just told him couldn’t be real.

“But-they all don’t trust me”.

He tried not to eyeball the Heiress too hard.

“Even you didn’t-“

“They don’t trust me either-except Tim and Sierra”.

-She’d lost her smile when he’d indirectly called her out.

In one fell swoop, it re-appeared.

It was beautiful.

“In a way, I guess we’re the same…as corny as that is…”

“…It’s not”.

A tear trickled down his cheek.

“We’re not the same?”

Felt kind of stupid, now…

“No…it’s not corny”.

He let out a choked laugh.

“I wish…”

“Wish what?”

“I wish we could just skip this ‘hating each other phase’”.

“…Yeah. I don’t think that’s ever gonna-“

I swallowed hard.

They were both giving me knowing glances.

“I’ll _try_.

Okay?”

“-Should we arm ourselves if she tries to hit you with that shovel?”

“I _would_-“

“Here”.

She worked the tiara off her updo.

“You can crown her with this”.

“Nice”.

I took it, feeling a little guilty that I might have to ruin it over a catty Hustler.

“Thanks, Sierra”.

“It’s no problem”.

Holding it in my hands, I couldn’t help but bask in the warmth her hands left behind.

A much-needed ray of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love character development (:


	5. Almost Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All made-up with nowhere to go. Yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO!! It's the weekend, yaaaaa-

Miss Eva Gutowski, Journalist Extraordinaire, the entire brains of our small-a* group, our most capable player when we were all Trapped in the Midnight, or wherever, and my amazing best friend that I would absolutely die for in a heartbeat:

Was standing in the breezeway to the kitchen with her eyes unfocused.

El Santo Padre en el Cielo, I had to shout like a mad woman to snap her out of it!!

“…Lele! Hi”.

“Girl, what’s going on?”

“You look like you’re trying to stare a hole into Joey’s house”, Tim said seriously.

“I was just…thinking”.

“About my fabulously-furnished dining room?”

“Well-“

“This is about Shane, isn’t it?”

Sometimes…I wonder how Oli always knows these things.

“Can I please plead the fifth?

We’re running a little late”.

Eva brushed by me on the way out-

I matched her pace for pace until we were even by each others’ sides.

“We’ll have to talk about this later”.

“I know”.

-Really?

“Good”.

And I meant it, too.

“Hello”.

Matt.

Just hearing that smarmy b*d’s voice was enough to make my blood _boil_.

“Did you find it?”

Sierra’s, I could handle.

Even if she_ was_ the Walking Load sometimes, after He-Who-Shall-Never-Be-Named.

“Make-up obtained”, Eva confirmed, framing her glorious face with a perfectly-positioned palm.

“You guys went all out”.

“It looks really good”, she commented.

“Can’t do no better than _these_ 24-karat eyes…” Tim wiggled his brows suggestively.

“I still don’t know if I did it right”.

“Oh please, you’re fine!”

_Oli…Oli, Oli, Oli when are you going to start having more confidence in yourself?_

“Vamps watch out”.

Joey flashed his trademark smirk.

“I’m coming for you”.

“Now it’s your turn”.

We all shoved forward the cosmetics at once.

“-For the record, I don’t know how this works”.

“I can help”, Sierra offered.

“That would be really great, thanks”.

Ugh.

_What does she see in him!?_

“I can’t breathe through the infinite layers of gunk!”

“You get used to it”, she replied.

“How do girls deal with this stuff…?”

“It’s not that bad!” Eva defended.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with slaying pretty?”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it, I said that I didn’t understand how you guys _dealt_ with it”.

“Same difference!!”

I was beginning to tire of this.

“Actually, not real-“

***Cough***

“-So, are we all set now, or what?”

_Huh?_

“What was that?”

Tim was thinking the same thing as me.

“What was what?”

“That weird hiccup!” Eva shrieked.

“I heard it-“

“It didn’t mean anything.

We just can’t afford to waste any more time”.

_Even when he’s being reasonable, he’s a pain!_

Our second huddle of the day.

“Okay.

Before we go anywhere:

What do we do with the vampire?”

“Last call”, Tim joked.

“Joey we already decided that”, Sierra spoke up.

(For once!)

“We’re not bringing him down there”.

“But we can’t just leave him here unsupervised”, Eva argued.

“Yeah, he is vampiric **_creepy_**-Caught him staring at me this whole time!”

“It’s because he’s scared of you”.

“That doesn’t mean he has to stare over it-!!”

“What if we brought in someone else?”

The gears were spinning in Oli’s mind.

“Alison”.

Joey immediately chimed in with her name.

“She’s a vampire too-she’ll be strong enough to take him on, right?”

“I don’t know-he doesn’t even look human!”

Eva’s whispers were low and cautious.

“How do we know he won’t just **kill** her-you saw what he did to Oli’s hand-!”

“I think Alison can take care of herself”.

“Yeah, isn’t her whole family made of bloodthirsty creatures?

She’s been doing fine so far-“

I was shocked!

The Heiress had mucho espíritu after all!!

“I still don’t like this”, Eva grumbled.

“It’s better than nothing”, Joey said.

“I agree”.

“But Oli…”

“He’s practically on Death’s Door as it is”.

“Yeah”.

“Okay”.

The Savant nodded slowly…

“Let’s do it”.

“Let’s show those mothers that they can’t steal our friend and get away with it!!”

Tim was the first to the door, cracking and un-cracking his knuckles as he went.

***Sigh***

“I’ll go rein him in…”

Joey stepped over to Vampire Boy, probably to catch him up on the craziness we were about to get into.

-I couldn’t wait!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I managed to break poor Lele's Spanish, please tell meee!!


	6. The Man With Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is Joey hiding *this* time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close, but one last housekeeping thing-o to take care of...!

He flinched away from me as I got close.

“What do _you_ want?”

“-You don’t like me”.

Why was I even surprised-

“No.

I don’t”.

Those green eyes regarded me with barely-disguised hatred.

“You invited them all here to die”.

“I didn’t mean to-“

“That.

Is a lie”.

“How is it a lie!?”

“I saw you!

What you did to them in Everlock-“

My face went pale.

“How many people did you tell?”

“Do the others not know?”

_Still?_

“Yeah…”

I shrank under his withering glare.

“There was never a good time, okay?

It was hard enough having to sit through Shane’s death again!!”

“What are you implying?

That you traveled back through time?”

I stiffened.

I could feel the Orb’s metallic smoothness rubbing up against the flesh of my chest.

“Yes…”

“Wh-_how!?”_

“…It’s a long story.

One that I don’t have time to tell you right now”.

“But you _will_ at some point.

You’ll tell everyone-“

“You sound like my mom”, I groaned.

“-!”

“What? You do-“

“…Idon’tknow”.

He suddenly flushed the brightest green I’d ever seen in my life.

“Okay cutie”.

-Cue brighter flush.

“St-stop that”.

“Anyway”.

I looked back at the line of Guests hovering by the door.

Waiting for me…

‘Get over here!’ Lele mouthed.

-No, she flat-out yelled it.

“You seem to know us already, so…I’m just gonna say that Alison is going to take care of you until we return with Andrea.

Okay?”

“Alison…Alison as in the vampire King’s daughter?”

“The one and only-at least I think so”.

“…”

He seemed to be mulling that over.

“She won’t react like you?”

“In what way?”

His expression plainly said: ‘How can you be so dumb?’

Ropes strained to contain his arms.

“Oh”.

“…So would she?”

“I'm not so sure-we’ve got you pretty trussed up”.

“I know, but…”

“She’s not like the others”.

“…I know”.

I stood, my knees screaming at me from having knelt for a while on the rough carpet.

“We’re off.

Wish us luck”.

“…Just get back safe”.

I nodded.

“We’ll do our best”.

(“FINALLY!!” Lele shouted from across the room).

Swallowing hard, I put on a bad boy smile and prepared to woo the denizens of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins. Somebody, please pray for these children...they know not what they're getting into!!!


	7. Climb The Ladder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra gets to be awesome-at the expense of a certain duo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Shameless Bribery chapter. X) (I'm sorry!)

Dank, and dark, and slimy-

I jumped as my heel squished in something moving.

“Ew-!”

“Probably just a rat”.

_Thanks Tim, I did **not **need to know that-_

“They sure let this place fall into ruin, huh?”

It was literally like a tomb down here.

_-Why_ did I think that!?

Something squeaked, and ran along the wall.

“Nonononono…please don’t be mice…!!”

_**Please **don’t be mice._

“Girl-“

I could hear Lele’s eyeroll from the front of the line.

“What are you even doing back there!?”

“I don’t like the random noises!”

Eva smiled.

“They’re nice noises!

They’re better than bloodsucking vampires-“

“I’m not reassured, guys”.

Oli shivered.

“Looks like my pad before I got sued”, Tim cracked.

90% of what he says was supposed to be funny, I swear.

But right now, it was just…grating on my nerves.

“That must have been some pad”.

-Everyone stopped and looked at Matt.

“What?”

Entering into the large chamber where we’d found the man upstairs, we were met with a worrying sight:

Other than a lake of greenish gross on the cobblestones, the creepy Calvin person was nowhere to be found.

“Uh…he’s gone”.

“We can see that!”

Joey ran a hand through his white hair.

“Oh f*.

He is_ not_ going to like this-“

“We can worry about that later”.

Lele pointed the blade-end of her shovel at the giant hole in the ceiling.

“Look-they left us a way in”.

“Oof~”

Boosting up onto his shoulders, the crazy Hustler scrabbled for the ragged edges high above.

“D*! Can’t reach-“

“Just throw her up there!” Matt called.

“Matt, f* you!”

“No”.

“I can’t hold you for much longer!” Joey wheezed.

“Send someone over her!”

“Matt-“

“Take Sierra”, Tim suggested.

“She’s like the lightest of us here, right?”

“Uh-whaatt!”

I began to laugh nervously.

He had to be kidding!

“Actually…” Oli said slowly.

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea”.

“You guys-“

“Normally I would be insulted, but that’s honestly a good plan”.

_Nooo Eva-!!_

“What about me?” Joey whined.

“Your backbone will be fine”.

Lele waved me on up.

I stood there.

“Guys…I am _not_ a climber!”

“Then I’ll do it”, Tim said.

“SIERRA GET OVER HERE!!” Joey screamed.

“Sorry-

I’m sorry-“

Why oh _why_, did I wear heels to this mess!?

“S’fine”, she grunted.

“Ow-Ow-Ow-“

The Savant kept muttering it under his breath-

I felt super-guilty!

“I’m sorry Joey!”

“OW-“

My stilettos were planted firmly on his hip, his neck, Lele’s shoulder-

“I’m so sorry guys!!”

“Don’t worry about it”.

The Hustler smirked.

“I’m sorry-“

I heaved myself up and over the lip of the hole, fingers aching with the strain-

I had to poke Lele in the forehead-!!

“Ohhh…guys, I made it!”

“Go Sierra!” Eva cheered.

I smiled despite myself.

“So…who’s coming up here next?”

Tim clawed his way up amidst complaints from both Joey and Lele-and he did it fast enough to scare me a little!

“Andrea I’m comin’ for you!” I heard him mutter under his breath.

Then Eva went.

“Girl!! You did it!!!”

She hugged me tightly, and I couldn’t breathe for five minutes.

Oli made Joey swear up and down while Lele made a ton of Eli jokes.

Last of all:

Matt.

“Can I drop him?

Can I _drop_ him-“

“No!”

“Why-“

“NO!!”

“But _why_-!”

“Okay…”

Eva blew a curl of hair out of her face.

“I think Joey has to go next”.

“With me on top of him?”

“No-“

She knelt down, hands firmly gripping Lele’s.

“You need to stand up-“

“Standing up!”

“My poor shoulder blades~” Joey whimpered.

“Oli, back me-“

“I’ve got you!”

He slung his tree trunk arms around her waist.

“…Now pull”.

“Oh f*”.

Tim ran to assist, followed shorty by Matt and I!

“Joey, hang on-!!”

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“I get to be high off nothing!”

“That-was-the-scariest-s*-EVERRR!!”

On all fours, our white-haired friend gained a few more _real_ ones and took deep, deep breaths.

“That was fun”, Lele said nonchalantly.

“FUN!?”

“Yeah”.

“You must be wild at parties”, was his only comment.

“Anyways, it looks like we’re in now”.

Matt sniffed.

“Where do we go from here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also the chapter in which Joey is a constant Memey Mood.


	8. Of The Ghetto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim gets to do what he does best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a long one to tide you over. It's been a thousand years!!

Now.

I’m not one to be overconfident…

But I think if we just strut right in like we own the place-

We should be fine”.

“Yes”, Eva agreed with me for once!

“We all still have our make-up on, right?

No one’s sweat it off?”

“Nope, still breathing through a layer of film”.

“Matt-“

“What?”

Lele rolled her eyes and swore in Spanish.

They do this so often, I’ve started to think about shipping them together.

“Mine’s still on”, Sierra said.

“As is mine”, Joey posed.

“I can’t tell”, Oli worried.

“Is it?”

“Yeah, I think so”.

Our Journalist pulled out an extra kit (because of _course_, she just had one lying around-) and did a little re-touching.

Right there.

In front of our faces.

-Uh yeah, ship incoming from the horizon…

“Won’t they see from our clothes that we’re not vampires, though?”

The other constant besides Mele, Eli, and Joey being a Diva was Sierra’s nervous laughing.

Privately, I’ve been calling her a Living Giggle Machine-

“We’ll just raid a random bedroom or something”.

“Okay…”

This portion of the Nest was black stone, highly gothic, and mounted with more wall torches than any citadel from the Game of Thrones.

The ground also wasn’t as nasty.

“EW-!!”

-She still found something gross to step on, anyway.

“WHY are there so many rats down here!!?”

“They just love you, I guess”.

“Matt, not helping!”

“Aw, c’mon, they only want to be your friends”.

“You aren’t helping either, Tim!!”

“What is it with you and rats?” Lele asked.

“They’re her spirit animal”.

“That is NOT true-“

“Sierra, rats are so creepy!”

“No, Joey don’t listen to him-!”

“What are you guys talking about back there?”

Eva shot a confused glance over her shoulder.

“I don’t even want to know at this point…” Oli muttered.

His loss.

“Ewewew…”

“Guys!!”

Literally Hustling herself into the first room available, she flung open a pair of closet doors.

Black, maroon, and purple garments hung off the racks, with other similarly-colored stuff neatly crunched in what little space was left.

“Who wants what?”

Eva took the gorgeous maroon ball gown, and Oli picked teal-green.

I could’ve commented, but I thought Lele would smack me to death, so I didn't.

Sierra chose a soft-powder pink sheathe…

Meanwhile, Matt put on a bright-yellow suit.

This awesome silvery coat was calling my name, so I totally borrowed it off the rack, and paired it with cherry pants, 'cause why not.

And of course, Joey, being the extra b* that he is, went with the most glaringly-light-blue monstrosity to ever walk the earth complete with a cloak of peacock feathers.

“Oh my!” He purred into the mirror.

“Don’t I look fabulous?”

“Where’s Daniel when you need him?” Lele quipped.

She tied up her braid with a few well-placed bobby pins, and just left it at that.

“We all lookin’ fabulous”.

I flashed my trademark smirk, and almost dazzled myself, I was so d* pretty.

“Are we ready to go now?”

Sierra fiddled with her tiara, and with her collar, and with her hem-

“Yeah, let’s do this”, Eva smiled.

“We’ve got this in the bag!!”

And as usual, Lele was the first to re-strut out the door.

The faint chatter of voices and music traveled to our ears from somewhere far away.

“Looks like the party’s started”, was Matt’s take.

“You know the party don’t start until I get there”, Lele confidently asserted.

“Yeah, they ain’t got s* without us”.

“Let’s go…”

Sierra hurried to keep up as we stampeded to Ballroom Central.

“Hey, don’t trip in those high heels”.

“Come on, Tim-“

“I’m being serious for a change”.

I reached out my hand.

“Can’t power off without you-“

She wavered for an instant.

Then grabbed it.

-Whoah.

I was _not_ expecting that grip.

Lights.

Flooding the darkness, and chasing away the pervasive damp.

French doors opened wide to reveal a lit snapshot straight out of every Disney movie in existence:

Masked couples in bright organza, chiffon, and starched tuxes dancing the waltz.

_Oh_ yeah.

“Ready guys?”

“No”, Sierra admitted.

“I’m not…”

“Yeah well, Oli, you have Eva, you’ll be fine”.

“-What?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be”.

Matt sighed.

“Just don’t you **dare** put me next to him!” Lele seethed.

_…Geez girl, have a little more faith in me!_

(_Now_ how do I do that without her suspecting?)

“I am shaking in my boots right now”, Joey whispered, “But if this works, we’ll be able to save Andrea”.

“Yeah, let’s not fail my homegirl, okay?”

“We won’t”.

Eva was resolute.

“We _will_ save her.

And then everyone else, too”.

We walked in.

A collective hush spread throughout the room.

The dancers ceased twirling it up.

Thousands upon thousands of eyes gazed at our glamour and charm.

“S’up”.

I tipped my hat.

…

Man, we just showed up and already we’ve wowed everyone into speechlessness.

“Who are you?”

**Booming.**

_Regal-_

Uh…

Oh.

Kinda lost the wind in my sails a bit…

Parting like the Red Sea, the Guests stepped aside.

Leaving a long, long corridor to a magnificent throne made of gold leaf.

Joey paled.

“No…”

“No?”

"What do you mean 'no'?”

Eva hissed in his ear.

“The Vampires…that’s their-“

“Queen”.

Her voice was strong, powerful, and pants-wettingly terrifying.

“Hey, Your Majesty”.

I swallowed my heart, but I think I’m still alive-

“Hope you don’t mind that we crashed your gala”.

“I don’t know”.

She raised an eyebrow.

“Who might you be?”

F*.

“I…am the Grand Duke of the Ghetto.

From Romania”.

Lele scoffed, and Eva made a noise of surprise.

“And these are my Courtier-Homies”.

“Homies?”

“Yes ma’am-“

“That’s ‘Your Highness’, to you”.

“Your Highness”.

I bowed.

“Twin Co-Rulers Matt and Lele, are my most trusted advisors, while Sierra is our Princess-In-Training”.

“Do tell”.

She was beginning to sound into it.

YES

“Joey is our Errand Boy-“

(HEY!!)

“And Grand-Mages Eva and Oli are the Wisest of our entire KingQueendom”.

“Wisest?”

“Yes. Ask them anything, and they will know the answer like THAT-“

***Snap!!***

“Interesting…and what of your Princess?

Is she your Heir?”

I almost started _fufufu_-ing right in Her Majesty’s Royal Face.

“Yes. Yes she is-“

-Spluttering from behind me-

“And she’ll be a Devilishly good one too, if I do say so myself…”

“-Tim!!”

“…Hmm. I see”.

She leaned in slightly.

“I am sorry to inform you that your Courtiers and yourself are a long, long distance away from Romania”.

“It was destroyed by Vampire Hunters”.

An audible rush of angry and disturbed murmuring, from the crowd.

Shivers and HISSSSSSS-

“WE DO NOT SPEAK OF THEM HERE!!!”

-

WElp.

I did a bad.

Hope she doesn’t decide to off us, yet…

Sighing, the Monarch’s fiery-red eyes settled back to safe normality.

“…Carry on”.

“Many apologies, it was not my intention to upset you—“

“Just continue”.

“As you wish”.

I let out the biggest mental screech ever.

“Left homeless, we journeyed to this land in search of respite and freedom from persecution.

Please,

Let us dine with you tonight-“

“You and your entourage will be welcome”.

It took six pairs of eyes boring into my back to keep me from fist-pumping in public.

**WOOOOOOOOOOOO-**

*Ahem*.

Act professional and Grand-Duke-ish, Timothy.

Act professional and Grand-Duke-ish.

You’ve got this.

“Now…feel free to join the dance!!”

With a majestic flourishing gesture, the orchestra started anew, the dancers again began to whirl, and I and my gang-

We got ready to rumble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD I love these guys.


	9. Trapped By The Throne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Princess has her doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, she's heeerrrreee-

'Of the Ghetto?'

My mother didn’t believe it.

I could see it in her eyes.

But she went along with the charade anyhow, smiling and nodding like nothing was wrong…

_What is she planning?_

…

They might be in more danger than they realize.

If I could just come up with a legitimate excuse to detach myself from her elbow, I would be able to confront them!

Confront_ Joey-_

He stood out way too much with that coat of his, and extravagant cape-

I saw the real Grand-Duke of Romania wear it last week.

No doubt they were looking for the sake of their friend.

They wouldn’t find her here!

They wouldn’t find _anyone…_

As long as I have lived, not a soul has been able to infiltrate that one, solitary chamber-

Never mind.

_The time for action, is now._

“Mother-“

“Yes dear?”

Suspicion in her innocent question.

“Has anyone checked on the prisoner as of yet?”

“I have Vera on the way.

You may relax”.

A cold hand clutched my heart.

That Vampiress had an appetite greater than any creature I had ever seen.

Worse even than that of the flesh-eating Gingerbread Woman.

“-You can’t send her”.

“What do you mean?”

“She will eat the woman alive-“

“You lack faith, my dear”.

“No, I _do_ have faith.

I have faith that you are making a terrible mistake!”

“-Don’t you take that tone with me.

You may be Princess, but I am still your mother and Queen”.

I pursed my lips.

When she got like this, one would be waiting an eternity for her to change her mind.

“Now, sit back and enjoy yourself”.

She patted my hand, an affectionate gesture that came across to me as rather condescending.

“Soon, your father shall appear”.

Right as rain.

I highly doubted that.

Searching desperately through the dizzying ring of dancing couples, I spotted Oli and Eva beginning a waltz, Matt and Lele arguing as usual in a corner, Tim and Sierra speaking in low whispers over by the hors d’œuvres, and Joey-

The Savant himself weaving awkwardly through the crowd, exclaiming every so often as he came close to knocking someone aside.

He was heading-_towards me_, I realized with a start.

Did he know the risks of what he was attempting!?

He must have…

Yet he continued onward, ever determined to see me.

Why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our cast has officially gone up to 9. Whoo!!


	10. Masquerade Of Twilight & Love, Pt. 1: Mele

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lele wants to know what's going on. Matt H. wants to know how to stop it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHAHHAHAHAHAHA I told you-

“Hey, we did it!” Tim celebrated under his breath.

“…Tim…why did you call me a Princess-In-Training!?”

Sierra was blinking back tears.

“I can’t be a Princess, I can barely handle being an Heiress and running away from monsters every five minutes!!”

“It sounded right”.

“TIM-“

“-Is that food?

I think that’s food!!”

“D-don’t leave me-!”

Pink heels clacked agitatedly against the dance floor as she scurried off after him.

Matt sighed.

“Well…I guess it’s time to split off now?”

“Just be careful and alert, okay?”

Eva fixed him with a ‘I’m-watching-you’ look.

“…I’ll be fine”.

“All the same, please don’t die”.

“Oli, I’ll be fine!”

“Lele-“

“Could you?”

“Excuse me!?”

I couldn’t believe this!!

“NO-no way-“

“If he does anything stupid, you’re allowed to punch him”.

“Eva-“

-Really?

_You’ve gotta be kidding me._

That is all it takes to get Lele Pons successfully bribed?

_…Wow._

_Just…_

** _Wow._ **

“Does this mean if I want to declare a truce, I have to ask you to deck me if what I say comes out wrong?”

“-What!?”

“What Eva just did-and said”.

“Oh”.

She shrugged.

Indifferently, as per usual…

“I’d be decking you every five seconds”.

“-You’d probably kill me, then”.

“That’s what I’ve always wanted-“

“Nothing more substantial?”

“-Joey’s house would have been nice”.

“Yeah, but it was Cursed-“

She jogged me hard in the arm.

“Ow-“

“I still want to live there!”

“Why?”

“Because a Cursed House would be cool if I could tame everything in it-“

“You’d get a faster death”.

She whacked me again.

“OW”.

_What is going on!?_

This was by far the weirdest conversation we have ever had!

_No yelling yet, but we’re still kind-of fighting, you know?_

_…I have no idea what to think about it._

Of why he was being so civil, all of a sudden.

I was losing my mind trying to figure it out!!

“Matt, spill it”.

“Spill what?”

“Why aren’t you acting like a total d*ebag?”

“Do I have to?”

“No-“

_G*dn it!!_

“It’s just-you always used to!!

And then I’d get mad at you, and then we’d have screaming fights-“

“It was only you who screamed”.

“What’s with the recent lack of attitude!?”

_It’s confusing me…!_

If I told her.

What would happen?

Sierra’s old tiara sat tucked under my jacket.

Had no one really noticed that it was gone this whole time?

…Eva probably did.

But she hadn’t mentioned it yet, for some reason.

A reminder of my choice, and…and a weapon in case she tried to strangle me for it.

Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to use it for that second one.

“I…just got tired of fighting, you know?”

“Why do I not believe that?”

…Oh.

And-

“The vampire guy.

He- kinda wanted all the hating to stop.

So I told him I’d try-“

“Matt, that is-

_Why_ would you trust him!?

He could be-“

“I don’t know, I looked in those eyes, and I didn’t see any evil”.

“Maybe he’s a good actor!”

“No way”.

“I won’t believe it until_ I_ see it”.

“Okay”.

…

STOP IT!!!

Stop it.

“MATT!!”

“What?”

“WHY-“

Why…

“Why won’t you just-!?”

“Just what?”

“You’re not attacking like you used to, promises be d*ned!!”

“Because I’m just as sick of it as he is!!!”

-That shut me up.

FINALLY!!

“…It’s about time”.

So I don’t know what happened…

But for once, that smile on her face wasn’t false.

“You’re acting like you, for once”.

“…Yeah?”

“Let’s agree to never stop fighting”.

-A handshake offer?

What the-

“Okay?”

“Yesss…”

We shook on it.

She fist-pumped to High Heaven.

I still have no idea what just happened.

Is this as close to peace as we’re ever going to get?

…I guess so.

Ah, well.

I’ll find some way to work this out, yet.

Lele, you better watch your back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guesses are free, the moon is up, and the party is getting wild~


	11. Masquerade Of Twilight & Love, Pt. 2: Tierra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She thinks she can't do it. He would beg to differ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my first vacation of the school year, WHOOOOOO-

_I can’t believe he did that!_

I was **mortified.**

_I’m no Princess-_

“Ooh! They have sweets!”

“Tim-“

“Yeah?”

He looked up from the gilded table, a pink-frostinged confection in his hand.

"I _cannot_ be your Princess, okay?”

“_My_ Princess?”

_-W-wait, no-!_

“Tim, you have a girlfriend!!”

“As far as she knows, I’m stuck in 1920”.

“TIM”.

“What?”

…

“You can’t flirt with every girl you meet!”

“I know”, he admitted.

“It’s a nervous habit”.

“Well it’s one that’s liable to get you _dumped_ if Chia ever finds out”.

“About my crush on the scary-cute mermaid women?”

Oh **God.**

“…Why the mermaids, Tim?

_Why!?”_

“I dunno, they had nice gill-“

“Ew! Who pays attention to-!?”

“Me, apparently”.

He took a big bite.

I sighed with exasperation.

“Look-“

“Look at what?”

“There’s no_ way_ I can handle this much pressure!”

“_Royal_ pressure-?“

“YES!”

-I was so loud, that half the ballroom turned to look at me, including Eva and Oli…

_Nooo, this is embarrassing-!_

“Yes”.

I tried to pitch my voice lower while the infuriatingly calm Mobster just grinned, and grinned,** and grinned-**

“I almost fainted when that Collector Lady nearly impaled us with her spear!”

“So did I, but here I am-“

“…You did?”

Him?

There’s just _no_ way…

She didn’t believe me.

“You are like, the most stupid-brave person I have ever met-ever”.

“So’s Lele-“

“If I said that to her face, I would probably die”.

“Naw, she’d just say you were accurate”.

...

“…Okay, yeah”.

I ate the rest of my cake-muffin, and reached for a cheesy-cracker thing.

“But-the point is that if I could just randomly cave like that-“

“I couldn’t tell”.

“Because you were busy telling her that and I quote: ‘Your staff is sexy’”.

“…Oh”.

I’d been afraid at the time she’d been planning to smash my junk in with it.

“Nervous habit.

Like I said-“

“I know!”

She gestured furiously in the air.

“But that still doesn’t change the fact that I could’ve lost it right then and there and gotten you all killed”.

…

“See, here’s the thing”.

What thing?

What kind of other ‘thing’ could there be!?

“I think you _can_ do it”.

!?

“Do _this!??”_

“Yeah”.

“Why!?”

“Because in the past ten minutes you’ve been saying you _can’t_ handle it, you’ve had this ‘attack me and I kick yo’ a*’ vibe in your eyes”.

-Say _what!?_

“People don’t get ‘vibes’ in their eyes!!”

“Well yours do”.

I opened my mouth to disagree-

“And if you wanted more proof, see where we are now?”

He inhaled the goat-cheese-with-cracker canapé, and reached for another.

“You could’ve been kidnapped like the rest of our friends, but you weren’t”.

“Because I was lucky!”

“Because you effectively led us out of those tunnels to safety”.

“-I thought I was following Eva”.

“No, she got stuck at the back with the Loverboy”.

“…”

…I.

_Huh!?_

“Y-you-mean-“

“Yup.

I mean that you did it all on your own with bad b* energy raining off of you in-“

“But…that doesn’t mean I can keep it up!”

“You sure?”

He smiled knowingly.

“I know you’ve got that fire-

You’ve been spewing it in my face this whole time”.

My stomach **dropped.**

He was right…

I swallowed.

And reached for an egg-and-seaweed-wrapped ball of rice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The best for last.


	12. Masquerade Of Twilight & Love, Pt. 3: Eli

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Would you like to have this dance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have surfaced from Math Land!!

So here we were.

Oli and I…

Left to figure out what to do with ourselves for the next who-knew-how-long.

“Well”.

“Well…”

We both stared at each other.

“…What do we do now?” he whispered under his breath.

“Hmm…”

Off the radar for now, I could tell…

The vampiric couples around us were too busy twirling throughout the ballroom to notice a couple of awkward-looking oddballs.

I hoped-

“Maybe we should…dance?”

“Dance?”

…Was it just me, or did he turn ten shades redder?

“I mean, yeah!”

Why was _I_ turning ten shades redder!?

“We could do that-keep the heat off us for awhile-“

“Sounds great”.

Joey clapped his hands together and smirked.

“How about I go talk to Alison in the meantime?”

“You’d do that?”

Oli seemed incredulous.

Either that, or he was just terrified witless at the prospect of really doing this.

(No way, I wasn’t terrified just as much, what are you talking about?)

“Sure. After all, everybody else is kind-of busy…”

Nodded to Tim and Sierra at the snacks, Matt and Lele in the alcove.

“Okay…”

I nodded suspiciously.

I had a hunch-

That somebody was trying his darnedest to be a shipper.

…

_Don’t think you can fool me._

“Awesome”.

He flashed twin thumbs-up while slooooowly backing away…

“Have fun…”

_Joey…!_

I tugged at my collar, why was it suddenly so tight!?

Dance…with Eva…?

_Could I really!?_

“Oli?”

Her voice-

Breaking through my sudden flurry of nervous thoughts.

“You okay?”

“Me-yes”.

I swallowed hard.

“I’m alright…”

“Okay…”

At the same time, we tried to coordinate our hands.

“Oh-“

“Uh-“

“Sorry”.

“No, it’s-it’s fine…”

How did you do this again!?

I hesitantly moved my arm to her shoulder.

She moved her other hand to mine…

“Do we have it now?”

“Y-you’re asking _me!?”_

I didn’t know!

I’d never had to do this before…!

“Uh, yeah…”

She sounded…a bit shy.

“I think-“

“We might…”

Now my collar was outright _strangling_ me.

“We might-I think-“

She smiled.

“If you’re sure, then…”

My heart stopped.

“…”

“…Oli?”

It disappeared.

“Are you-?”

“I’m fine!”

Came out too fast, why-

“We-we can start now?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah”.

I gulped.

He led me out onto the dance floor, and all I could hear was my own heartbeat in my ears.

This would be a night to remember, for certain.

I just hadn’t expected it to be memorable in this way.

I hadn’t expected to get attacked by some lady in scarlet…

I hadn’t expected to go undercover amongst bloodthirsty monsters.

And I definitely hadn’t expected...to be simulating…a practical **date**…with_ him._

“Ready?”

“Yes”.

At that…I literally couldn’t hear anything at all.

I led her out onto the dance floor, my heart pounding in my chest.

_Please don’t let me screw this up…!!_

** _Please-_ **

I’d always felt protective of her since the start.

I didn’t know how…

Just that something had happened between when I’d first met her and right this flipping moment-

I looked into her eyes, every. Time.

I was…lost.

And it felt good.

Music swelled up from somewhere, it must have.

Our feet moving in perfect stumbling synch, Oli’s big boots clunking into my decorative heels every so often...

Choppy, unsure circles in space, gradually thinning out the crowd until with a sudden shock-

I realized we were all alone.

At the very center of a giant ring.

“Oli…?”

“I know, this is weird”.

Tim and Sierra to our left.

Flashing heart-eyes, eating a cupcake and trying not to squeal-

Matt and Lele up in the top.

Grinning profusely, cheering at the highest volume her lungs would allow.

Joey to our right, leading Alison away from Her Royal Highness, a living Cheshire Cat.

(The Princess herself just looked confused).

“Well they’re enjoying themselves…”, he remarked.

“I know, right?”

I couldn’t help but get lost in those eyes again.

“We make pretty good vampires, don’t we?”

“I guess”.

A tiny upturn of the lips-

My heart _melted._

“…You wanna keep going?”

“Do you?”

She winked at me!

“Why not…we have all night”.

That's right...we did, didn't we?

"I'm...glad".

"Me too".

She giggled slightly, head resting lightly against my shoulder-

'All night'...

I just plain didn't want it to end.

Oh my God...

Being like this...together...

It was...

It was amazing.

He was a teddy bear!

Soft, yet strong at the same time...

I didn't want this night to end.

*

I knew it.

I f*ing knew they had feelings for each other!

"Joey...why are you snickering?"

Oh you poor child.

"Nothing".

I pretended to cough out the rest into my sleeve.

(I almost missed the brief flicker of heartbreak across our Hustler gal's face).

...

Wait.

What.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I'll go back under...


	13. Masquerade Of Twilight & Love, Pt. 4: Joey On His Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sixth wheel gets things done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exams are in a week, ahhhhhhhhhh

I saw her whisper something into her mother’s ear, and then quietly step off the throne.

“Hey-“

-Claw-like vise on my collar, yanking me into a secluded space behind some columns.

Could still see Eva and Oli though.

(Yessss!!)

Blatant match-making aside, I had to tell her-

“What are you doing here”.

_-Or we could just get straight to the point._

_That works, too._

“We’re here to save Andrea”.

“Well your attempt isn’t working. My mother-“

“And we need your help”.

“…My help?”

She drew back.

“Yes”.

I re-floofed my cloak.

“With what?”

I was so glad she asked…

“There’s a friend of ours in trouble.

They’re really injured, and if you could just, y’know, keep them from dying on us while we’re gone-“

“Where”.

“Uh…”

_You see, there’s this giant hole in your hallways somewhere…_

“Um”.

“Joey-“

“It’s…somebody broke through the floor, and it led to the basement of this house, and then we hid them up in the lounge there, and please don’t tell anyone because I think they’ve got a stalker-“

She nodded.

“Very well”.

“-Just like that?”

“Just like that”.

I exhaled.

Mentally and physically!

And emotionally, too, for good measure.

“Thank you”.

“It’s nothing-“

“No”.

I made sure to look her in the eyes as I said it.

“It’s everything. You don’t know it right now, but you’re going to be loved by a lot of people someday”.

She smiled at me, utterly confused.

“Okay?”

“Okay”.

_Take a deeeeeep breath-_

“Sooo…”

“So?”

“So-think you could get us royals in to see the prisoner?”

“Not unless you have a death wish”.

“A death wish?”

Now what on _earth_ did she mean by that!?

“Because my mother-“

Furtive glance toward the stern-looking woman.

“Already saw through your disguise”.

“She did? How!?”

_Aw man!_

_All of that hard work gone to waste!!_

“Your cloak”, she said flatly.

“What about my cloak? It’s fabulous-“

“It belongs to someone who visited this last week”.

“…Oh”.

Not the first time this ‘Joey-Original’ has seen the runway.

_Apparently-_

“Well…can you still find a way to sneak us into wherever Andrea’s being kept?”

“You mean make a distraction?”

“Yeah, that…would be _great”._

She gave me the most suspicious side-eye ever.

“You do know that if it goes wrong, you are all dead”.

“Probably”, I admitted.

“And you’re still going to try anyway”.

I shrugged, and flashed her my classic grin.

“We’re not very good at giving up”.

The vampire princess pursed her lips.

“…Very well”.

“Yes!! Thank you Alison-“

“Don’t thank me until you’re safe”.

Brushing by me, she disappeared into a throng of partygoers having a, uh, _risqué_ sort of time.

A split second later, there was a horrifying scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes mayhem.


	14. All The Team Assembled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to re-group!!
> 
> Cw: Blood, implied death, death wish, mention of panic attacks. Eating cupcakes. Vampires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> : D

I spit the blood from my mouth as she angrily spun on her heel.

“HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR FANGS UPON ME!!”

The golden-dressed woman glared around the circle of vampires, searching, searching.

Bright-red marks gleaming upon her neck.

Eyes seething for someone to blame.

But I was already gone.

Disappearing toward the door as fast as I could go.

_Good luck._

_All six of you will need it._

Oh my God!

My jaw _dropped._

When I’d asked for a distraction, I didn’t think-

_Not now, Joey! You’ve got a job to do!_

“Guys-“

I spun on my leather heels, and _ran_ to yank Eva and Oli from the crowd.

“Guys this is it, go get the others”.

“Okay”.

Eva nodded, and Oli hurried after her.

I started to duck towards an adjacent hallway-

I knew one existed; I’d been brought through it once.

As a prisoner in another game...

_Ugh..._

Stopping up the horror in my blood, I scurried around the corner, and waited.

“Time to go!” I barely got the cupcake in my mouth before she was tugging on my shoulder-

“It’s time to go, we’ll never have another chance”.

“Yes, yes, this way-“

Oli gently herded Sierra my direction, and we were rushed along and into an alcove.

With Joey.

“What the-“

“Is it time?”

“Yes, it’s time!” I answered.

“We have to hurry”, Oli politely pushed.

“Yes!!”

“-Oh here we go”.

Matt H. smiled as dryly as it was possible to be.

“Let’s not become vampires in the process?”

“-Don’t attach a question mark to the end-!!”

_-Okay then._

Apparently they’d gotten much more civil since last I’d heard.

“Is everybody here”.

Joey really quickly did a headcount.

“Yeah”, Tim replied.

“….I’m getting kind-of scared now”.

A nervous giggle slipped out.

Great…

“Too late to be scared”, Matt said helpfully.

-Lele swatted him on the arm.

Eva rolled her eyes:

“Dude, chill. No need to say that-“

He raised his arms as if to confirm that he meant no offense.

“It’s…it’s okay”.

I shivered, but stood my ground.

The earlier conversation I’d had fresh in my mind...

“Who knows where a map of this place is?”

Sierra was stepping up, and I was here for it.

No more scared bunny rabbit in _this_ house!

“We could _make_ one of those fanged jerks give us a map”.

“Whoah, Lele-“

I gave him a hairy eyeball.

“What!?”

“Bit too violent?”

“Well how else are we going to get it?”

“-We’ll wait for Alison to come back to us, and we’ll find where Andrea is being kept together”.

…Leave it to Joey to wreck all my plans-

“….How long are we planning on waiting, though?”

Whatever distraction she’d come up with sounded a bit quieter-

“Because we can’t shelter in here for too long, otherwise, we’ll be caught”.

I saw Lele roll her eyes at me, but it wasn’t as full of toxicity as usual.

I guess our agreement dealt a blow to our usual dynamic, huh?

…Well.

It would certainly make the mission go easier, so-

“I don’t know”.

“You don’t know?!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!

“Joey, this is life-or-death!!”

“I know, Oli, I know-“

“You just said you didn’t!!!”

“I know”.

He drew in a _deep_ breath.

Wished I could do the same-

“It was part of what I told her when I asked for her help. She should be back, she wouldn’t abandon us”.

_What on earth did he ask for that was taking this-_

“F* waiting…” I heard Lele whisper under her breath.

“Look, guys, please trust me! Alison is a good person. I swear”.

“….”

He said that, but-

“Joey, you said you’ve met her before, and she does seem nice, but there’s a million of_ them_ and only one of _her_”.

-He turned very pale, very fast.

*

…….It had been awhile.

No one had arrived, yet……

…………………………………………

The urge to go to sleep-

_-Which I can’t afford to do, probably…_

Was strong.

Almost _too_ strong-

_For all I know, it has only been two minutes._

…..What would happen to me if I _did_ accidentally drift off?

I mean-

…

Would I die?

They could always wake me up when they find me.

……

Yeah….

“Don’t”.

-Did I say that out loud.

Wait, who-?

I strained to focus on the black-cloaked figure leaning over me.

“….Alison….?”

“Yes, it’s me”.

She slashed my arms free from their bindings.

“Joey said there was someone in trouble at the lounge”.

“He sent you?”

“He did”.

…He’d followed through.

I slit the ropes keeping their ankles tied, and gently cupped a hand around the back of their neck.

“Let me see…”

They winced, but didn’t fight it.

“…”

“…How bad is it?”

“You have definitely been converted into a vampire”.

“…!”

Despair settled into their gaze.

“But-but isn’t there a way to cure it?”

“I have heard that unicorn blood can take away its pain…”

“That’s not-a cure-“

“It’s all we have”.

“No. I can’t accept that, I won’t put others in danger!!”

“If there is a cure, no one knows it”.

They went quiet.

“I am sorry”.

“….I’ll find one”.

“…”

I brought from my pocket a vial of silver blood.

“Don’t tell me-“

“Yes. This will help with your injuries”.

They sighed.

“Was the unicorn already dead?”

“…”

“….I’m going to be cursed. Wonderful”.

“You will not”.

“How are you sure?”

“…”

I uncorked the bottle, and held it to their lips.

They stared it down…

“If you aren’t treated now, you will only get worse”.

“….”

They still seemed reluctant…

“If you get worse, you won’t be able to leave this room, or this house.

And you _definitely_ will not be able to discover a cure for yourself”.

“….”

They allowed me to pour the elixir into their mouth.

…It was instantaneous.

I felt the aches that had been tormenting me, disappear.

My head became clearer…

I could gingerly sit up.

Swing my legs over the side, and work the kinks out of my joints.

“Thank you…”

“It was nothing”.

She stuffed the unicorn blood back into her coat.

“Just a favor for Joey and his friends”.

“You’re leaving-“

“They are waiting for my return”.

“Good luck”.

“And to you, as well”.

“…..Actually-“

I was…kind-of thinking of-

“I heard once that this house was stuck in the 1920’s? They might need me to get out when it’s over”.

“You can hop eras?”  
“I-“

I swallowed.

My last visit, I hadn’t been able to…because I’d lost my powers.

Now, however-

I had them back-

“…I can try”.

“Alright".

She extended a hand.

“What do they call you, ‘Joey’s friend’?”

“…Envy…”

I took it-

She pulled me up, and I almost fell on her.

“-S-Sorry-!!”

“….You are a lot taller than I expected”.

_I…get that a lot._

“Envy, follow me. There are many tunnels down here”.

…Of course.

There was the matter of the hole.

“I…I can pull myself up there”, they said quickly.

They waved a hand over the ground.

Thick vines cracked through the old stone, and I saw them smile with relief.

“…I will meet you on the other side, then”.

My eyes burned red, and within seconds, I had transformed into a bat.

Elbows folding in, knees bending, head tucked toward chest.

My sleeves forming long, black wings-

(They blinked at the sight, and then shuddered).

**The body was gone.**

-It hit me-

_He better be dead._

_They better have just dragged his body away._

_They **better** have-!!_

Now…was not the time to have a panic attack.

Calm down…

_Calm down…._

Alison chattered from the giant crack I’d made, most likely wondering what was taking me so long.

_Calm down._

Hand-over-hand, I began to bring myself up there.

I hope-

_I hope-he’s dead._

*

Joey was starting to look nervous.

“Where is she!?” Eva hissed.

“She’ll be here!” he insisted.

But…you could tell the morale was dropping.

“Maybe she hit a little snag”, I suggested.

“Maybe…maybe she had to go the bathroom”.

“Matt-“

“It’s only an idea”.

“That’s a weird idea”, Sierra said.

“Everything about our whole predicament is weird”, I defended, “Including Joey’s house, you, me-“

“I’m worried”, Oli admitted.

“I’m not”.

Tim ate his seventeenth cupcake.

How he’d managed to smuggle that many over here, I didn’t have a clue.

“We know you’re not”, Lele scoffed.

-She snatched one like lightning, and had it stolen before he could even offer up the _slightest_ hint of resistance.

“Aw man, that’s low!”

She triumphantly cackled.

“-Look, it’s them!!”

Eva was pointing-?

I turned to see-

Yup.

We had a lady in gothic dress on our radar.

And-

Oh.

_Hello-_

“Alison!” Joey cried out in relieved happiness.

“Envy!?”

“I thought you didn’t want to be back in the Vampires’ Den!?” Sierra shrilled as silently as possible.

“I didn’t…”

“Then what are you doing here?”

Eva poked me with a finger.

“I think…I can help…?”

“How!?”

Lele.

**S-scared-**

“U-um…”

“No time for discussions now”.

The nice vampire slid past peoples’ elbows in order to be in the front.

“Andrea is in the company of someone quite ravenous this very moment".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yessss, we have everybody now!!


	15. Andrea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a horror flick, from her perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say hello to the newest member of our cast. : )

-The door handle.

_Do **not** move._

“….Andrea?”

That rattling was something out of a horror movie.

“Andrea…..please let me in…!”

She sounded innocent in the way of an ax murderer, too.

“The Queen sent me…”

_Yeah, I know._

“It’s been a while since you’d arrived…you don’t have to be afraid”, this lady droned on, “Just a quick check-“

-Okay, those_ were_ lip-smackings I heard.

“-And then I will be gone like the wind”.

_…Uh-huh._

You don’t say.

“Andrea-“

Rattling, louder.

She was really having trouble.

Then again.

She didn’t know I’d stuffed a chair under the knob-

It gave a few feet with an ear-shattering **BANG.**

Whoever this was _grunted-_

Shoved a few more feet.

I heard the drop of silence.

“….Andrea!?”

To her, the whole entire room was empty.

…………

“Where did you go?”

Talking like her voice wasn’t full of longing…

She walked right past me.

Her dark dress looked like something from the Victorian Era, not the 1920’s.

Since when did Joey even _have_ vampires hiding in his cellar to begin with?

_Since that **other** lady came out of nowhere with her glowing, green spear._

But I hadn’t seen head nor toe of _her_ at all.

Maybe Alison actually _did_ scare her ‘back to Purgatory where she belonged’.

Breath on my neck.

“I can smell you…..”

I nearly choked on my own spit.

_Don’t you **dare** make a sound-_

** _Don’t you dare._ **

Those hungry eyes spent a good ten minutes literally an inch from my face.

Just……………………………………………………………………………………………_scanning._

I…did _not_ move.

It was easier to do than I thought it was gonna be…

Helped a lot to be frozen in fear.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“….Hmph”.

The woman growled, still sniffling.

“What is this?”

-She reached out a hand-

_Oh s*, I’m dead._

“-Vera!!”

The door was already ajar.

When Alison swept through, it slammed hard into the wall, and made the biggest dent-

She sighed exasperatedly.

“You always show up to ruin my fun…”

“Not_ just_ me”.

“Leave Andrea ALONE!!!”

My Homeboy-!

Tim barreled in, coat tails flying out behind him.

-He just tackled her to the ground.

Yes!

You go-

“Andrea!?”

Eva!

And Oli, too-

Hah, they came in color-coordinated outfits.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!!!”

Lele ran in, metaphorical guns blazing.

“…Where is she”.

And there was Matt.

“Oh my gosh, you guys-!!”

And Joey.

“Shhh, they’ll hear us!”

Sierra-

She’d come a _long_ way from the scared rabbit aura I’d picked up when we’d first been ambushed.

I could barely see it on her despite the hushed worry in her voice.

…Or was that not worry, but-

Hello.

_Who are you._

“Get off of me, you ruffian-!!”

“‘Ay lady, only _ruffians_ bloodsuck my precious friends”.

If dirty looks could kill-

She shoved him off with extra-vampiric strength.

“Ow-“

Lele grabbed a tea tray that I never once touched in all my time here, and smashed it over her head.

It cracked in **two-**

Oh my God-

“…You did that”.

Eva’s jaw had unhinged from her mouth.

_I mean, could you honestly blame her._

“Now we can get Andrea and get out”, the fiery blonde said matter-of-factly.

The person in the doorway whom I’d never seen before in my life, flinched.

……..

Okay then.

“Remind me to hire you as a bodyguard-“

“Pay me a million dollars, and I’ll do it”.

“Gh-haha! Like I_ have_ that much money-“

“Guys?”

Joey’s brows were knit.

“Guys, I don’t see her in here-“

“She_ is_ here”, Alison promised.

“Yeah”, Sierra agreed, “I think that chair used to be stuck under the door, so-“

Reveal time.

“…Hi”.

Matt jumped.

“Andrea!??”

Oli’s eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates.

-I definitely looked funny with my head sticking out of a pitch-dark shadow.

I walked the rest of the way-

“You were there the whole time”.

Lele blinked.

“Funny thing about this dress”.

I smiled.

“Blends right in”.

“ANDREA”.

Tim gave me a bone-crushing hug.

“Thanks man……but I can’t breathe-“

“I was so fr*n worried about you-!”

“Dude, _I_ was worried they were gonna send out a delegation to eat you-“

_“Me too!!”_

I hugged him back…

Trying not to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now they just have to escape.


	16. Time To Leave, Pt. 1: Vampire Diaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited at last, there's still one loose end left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Mentions of blood, death.

_Aww…_

_I’m glad it turned out like this._

_They look so happy…_

“-By the way”, Andrea said, voice smothered by Tim’s hug, a little bit-

“Who’s that?”

_Who’s what-_

Oh.

I felt my face flush to the roots of my hair.

“That’s our friend”, Matt vouched.

“Some teeth you got there”.

I nodded…

“He wasn’t always this quiet”, Lele huffed.

“…Is he gonna eat me”.

“No!”

I swallowed hard.

“I won’t…”

“….You sure?”

“Yeah…”

“What’s your name?”

“……..”

_This again…_

“Envy…Flora…”

“Oh cool”.

She smiled.

I brushed some hair out of my face…

“Where’d you come from?”

“I…don’t know…”

“-He doesn’t remember”, Joey cut in, “But-he said he could get us out”.

“Really?”

“Yes-I think…”

I snapped my fingers, and jumped as the wall hazed over.

“I-I can still do it!?”

“Do what?”

Eva stared at the clouded section.

She reached out an arm-

It went through.

“Oh it’s cold-!”

“Ew”.

Lele sniffed.

“Where does that go?”

Sierra joined her friend.

“Into the Dream World”.

“What?”

Oli seemed confused.

-Either that, or he wasn’t expecting me to say what I’d said…

“If you enter, you’ll be able to leave anywhere-assuming you have the power to open any portals or anything?”

Joey sweated-

“Don’t think so”, Matt answered.

“H* yeah”.

Tim grinned wide.

“Get us out of here vampire boy”.

_……..Vampire boy?_

-That reminded me of something I wanted to ask, but-

We didn’t have the time.

“This will stay open for as long as I want it. We should leave soon, though-“

“Yes”.

Alison gently broke up the reunion.

“They won’t believe that our disappearance was a mere happenstance, forever”.

“Quite right”.

Something poked me in the back-

“Hello, stranger. Kindly put your arms where I can see them”.

She blanched.

I hesitated-

I heard the flick of a trigger.

I did as she asked…

“Mother…”

….Well so much for an easy way out.

Lele spat, and snatched up a table.

No, I’m not lying.

“Matt, help me-“

I scrambled to heave the unconscious vampire lady into my arms.

Could I throw her-?

“Matt, _what are you doing-“_

“Don’t shoot!” Eva cried.

“He’s innocent-he-he had no idea what we were planning-“ Oli flat-out lied.

“We were goin’ to eat her”, Tim _also_ lied.

“Yeah”, Andrea also_ chimed in._

“They were mad that the other woman was gonna get here first, so they knocked her out, and he was about to bite me”.

Envy’s expression told me everything I needed to know about how good our cover was.

“Save your untruths for someone who wants to hear them”.

-She had that mom voice, you know the one, where you accidentally break something you aren’t supposed to, and you get that slight inflection because she’s just _that_ irritated-

“Mother-“

Alison moved in front.

“Put down the crossbow”.

“I knew it was you”.

Dangerous red glint in those eyes.

“You bit our guest. And for whom?”

She gestured to the rest of us with her upswept ‘do.

“Them?”

“Vera would have killed her, and you know it”.

“She would have been killed sooner or later anyway”.

“Thanks”, Andrea B. said dryly.

“Thanks a _billion-“_

“We took her fair and square”.

“No”.

Alison was _not_ having it.

“You **_stole_** her-“

“If it weren’t her, it would have been another human. You know this”.

She sighed.

“We have _done_ this for centuries”.

“That doesn’t make it right-“

“Oh, so it was _right_ for the Hunters to exile us in era!?_ Alone!!?”_

She was suddenly_ shouting._

“You almost**_ died_** because of them!!!!”

What.

The vampire girl shank back.

I was floored!

Alison had-!?

“I…I don’t…remember…”

“Of course not!” the Queen snorted.

“You were only a little babe when they murdered your_ real_ parents….and most of our True Kingdom!!”

_Oh. My **God-**_

“After Dorian saw to their ends, we raised you, and our entire empire, up from nothing!”

Her glare of ‘I’m-going-to-kill-you-immediately-after-I’m-done-monolouging-‘ softened.

“Can you imagine what it was like…to find a squaling baby girl covered in her own mother’s blood in the leaves?”

She’d gone ghost-pale.

“……….M……m……o…..ther……….?”

“I am sorry”.

Her voice was quieter now…

Oli squeezed my hand.

“I am sorry you had to find out”.

-The ground was beginning to crack…

“And in such loathsome circumstances, too…”

In the corner she wasn’t watching.

Envy’s eyes seemed to be shining a brighter-green than they had all night.

-Or was it day by now?

................................................................................................................................................

Alison _**shook.**_

“But you see…”

She nodded to someone outside the door frame.

“There_ is_ reason behind keeping your human acquaintances here to die”.

Vine sprouts exploded from the floor, and locked up the doorway!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can they do it?


	17. Time To Leave, Pt. 2: Siege

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -So how are they going to escape again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Blood, BSOD.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold them off-“

He winced-

A sure sign that vines were being cut.

“The blockade is THAT sturdy!?”

Matt H. sounded shocked.

“Should be-!”

He winced again.

“Anyone-have any plans-! They might want to speak up now!!”

I gulped.

“Well….I think I know how we can get the rest of our friends back-“

“How?”

Lele’s eyes kept flickering from the door to my face-

“The woman who took them. . .I remember she had this jar.

Of souls-“

“Hold up-“ Tim interrupted.

“Jar of _what-“_

“It’s a long story-! I’ll explain later”, I promised.

“If we could _just_ get to her Museum-“

“-I-could help with that….maybe-“

The Plant Man pulled a shuddering hand away from the wall of green.

“You sure?”

Eva noted the strain-

“I could-try-“

Sierra swallowed the urge to giggle nervously.

“Try what?”

Oli was sweating nervously as the clamor outside increased.

“They’re getting louder, guys-!!”

Alison stirred.

Slightly.

“. . .I don’t really want to face being eaten again”, Andrea B. said calmly, except it wasn’t _really-_

Struggling to separate his focus in two, he tried to………draw his fingers down……………through the…………………..air-

_-What is he doing?_

It tore, gradually-with no sound-!?

_Why didn’t he do this earlier??_

_'-Because he was stuck on the couch, injured',_ my brain informed me-

_Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious-!_

I tried to see in, but it was too bright-

“My retinas-“ Matt complained.

“Oh hush, are you afraid of a little light, now?”

“No”.

-And that was all he said.

Lele snorted, but looked confused and irritated at the same time.

_….When will those two just quit it already!?_

_-I can’t even tell if this is progress or not!!_

“It’s…it’s the best I can do-“

The vine barrier crumpled a smidge.

“-Ms. Zap-Happy is through there?”

Tim felt his pockets, probably for that Wallet he kept losing.

“No time-!”

The barrier crumpled more.

“Just go through…”

“-Where are we going to end up, though?” Sierra wondered.

“I mean-“

Andrea B. shrugged.

“Anywhere’s better than here”.

“-Alison? You coming?”

Eva glanced in the Princess’ direction.

“…..”

-She started forward, brokenly.

“It’s not going to backfire, is it?”

Oli ran a hand over his hair.

“I don’t know please just go-!!”

-Something whizzed through the air, and clipped Sierra on the shoulder!

“OW-!!”

“S*-!” Lele yelped-

I gawped at the arrow buried an inch in front of my toe!!

“You okay!?” Tim exclaimed-

“-Yow!!”

He ducked to avoid a few more-

“-Okay, let’s go-!!”

Red eyes glowered from the shadows of the entryway.

Eva shoved Matt and Oli forward-

“Take that!

And that!!”

Having swept up the wasted ammunition with a clatter, the Hustler threw them back.

Shrieks and hisses arose-

There was a **flash!**

“-! Where’d they go-!?”

Tim squinted-

“No idea, let’s leave-“

Sierra grabbed him by the arm and impressively hauled him out of there!!

“-Hey, wait for me!”

Andrea B. hot on their heels-

Since Alison was already light years ahead of us, I just had to worry about Lele.

“Come on!!”

“-Just one more-!”

_“LELE-“_

_“FINEEE-!!”_

She rolled her eyes, and strutted through.

“Sheesh. . .”

I let out a breath.

“Envy? You’re the last one-“

“………………………………………..”

I had one foot through the rip-AKA-door.

“What are you waiting for-!?”

“-!”

The barrier collapsed completely…

“HEY-!!”

“. . . . . .”

Claws reached for him.

“NO!!”

I tried to grab his arm as we both surged back—

-!?

Blood ran down my cheek.

I saw his eyes widen…

“NO-“

_NO DON’T YOU **DARE-!!**_

-His palm struck the flat of my chest, and knocked me into white-sky-colored oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for poor Chala who's been waiting forever-


	18. Something I'm Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last person now needs to get to safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Blood, questionable vampiric behavior. The dark. Being bitten, drugged.

_Forgive me-_

The vampire that’d tried to take a chunk out of Joey’s head glared.

_It’s safer this way-!_

I closed up the rip.

-Claws grabbed my arm-

I wanted to throw vines at them, but the strain was getting to me-

Blood, or should I say chlorophyll, showered.

That scratch was going to be painful later…

I tried to open another rip so I could get out, but it fizzled behind me.

An arrow thudded into my shoulder.

Shake it off-

_I can’t afford to get caught-_

** _Ow-!!_ **

And another one in my side.

_They aren’t trying to kill me, are they?_

Not yet.

-I hit the wall.

Andrea’s shadow patch not that far away.

If I could just get to it, I could disappear-

But it wouldn’t help me out, would it?

Otherwise she would have been gone from here long before her friends came-

_Darn it…_

I clutched at the wound.

…….Too many Victorian Dancers to count.

Maybe I could fight them all off-?

Maybe-

I needed time to catch my breath, though.

“. . .I don’t know how you did that”.

The Queen, herself, an arrow at my face.

“How did you do that?”

“………………………………..”

She frowned.

“Where did they go?”

“……………………………..”

_Like I’m going to tell you._

“The King will want an audience with him….”, one of them whispered.

I still heard it.

“Hmm…..are we asking for a fair trial?”

“-It _is_ Vampire Law”.

“Shame he isn’t human….”, a lady sighed.

“I’d _love_ to taste him-“

_Uh, **no.**_

I shivered in disgust-!

“Come on dear. You’re not a dead man”, someone else said.

But I didn’t want to move.

_I don’t trust them-_

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..”

“Venom-“

“Use the venom-“

-I didn’t know what they were talking about, and I didn’t want to know.

_Do they mean to bite me again!??_

No way would I just let that happen-!

They surged closer to me.

“Don’t”, I warned.

If they attacked, I would attack**_ them-_**

“Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be”, she deflected.

I tried to make another rip.

I had to be subtle-

‘Away from here’, was a good enough destination as any.

_Come on….!!_

It’d been like, two minutes.

….Every little bit might help, I hoped-

I could feel it forming. . .

I just needed more time!!

“……….What venom?”

Her smile was fake.

“Stalling, are we?”

-.

The irony.

Of course, I wouldn’t be good at it.

Why’d I even try?

“No”.

“-A likely story”.

-They could almost reach out and touch me.

“You’re too close”.

_Argh, it’s a third of the way there….!_

The odds….weren’t looking good.

I had to admit-

“Oh? You think?”

An arrow tip bludgeoned my chest.

I coughed-

Arms grabbed me, pulled me-

I pulled back.

Air hissed as fangs tried to catch my neck.

_-I **knew** it!!_

I leaned away, and shoved out with my elbow.

-There was a crack, but I wasn’t sure what I’d hit.

I kicked, and moved something-

Someone, I thudded back against the wall.

_Faster-_

Even if it _was_ a losing battle.

“You can’t fight forever”, she sighed.

“Then call me delusional”.

_-Think of anything else to say!_

(Two-thirds-)

“-Why waste energy on me anyways? Don’t you have better things to do?”

-Her expression was utterly unimpressed.

“Come on-“

“I’m serious-“

“So am I”.

I could tell from their postures; they were going to strike again.

A little longer-I just needed a little longer-!

“Aren’t you worried there’ll be more of them?”

At this rate, I just wanted to _keep_ stalling.

Even_ if_ I was bad.

“Aren’t you worried about where they came from?”

I raised my arms up as they came at me-

“Wait, wait-!! Isn’t that a valid concern!? If those humans were from above-they might not be the only ones-“

(I sincerely hoped there _weren’t_ anymore-)

Vines-again-

I tried to push them over like ten-pins!

Splitting my attention, it started to sew itself up-

_No hang on, just a little more just a little more-!!_

So close.

_So_ close-!!!

Someone bit a tendril-

“Ow-!!”

Startled, I flung them into their friends.

_I…feel tired-what-_

I was slowly becoming weak-

Light-headed.

_-I** cannot** black out now._

Fear crashed over me-

_The venom they'd been speaking of._

If I _did_ fall, like they wanted, where would I be when I finally-!?

If this really _was_ the only moment I’d have-

I dropped the vines.

Focused my energy _only_ on the portal-

Air rushed past my shoulders.

“Stop him-!!”

I vaguely heard it.

Letting myself fall, I was ready to seal the opening-

-Someone grabbed my hand.

“-Let go!!”

I scratched at the living shackle-

I didn’t dare look away.

Another arrow-

It whizzed by my ear, and I shuddered.

_That could’ve ended badly in so many ways-!!_

“Let me go!!”

I thrust up with my elbow-second time-

The hand released.

_Yes-!!_

I dropped into space, seeing no sign of anything having been there at all.

*

I must’ve passed out.

My head ached, and my limbs felt like lead.

….I sat up…….

_Where am I?_

I looked around, but I couldn’t see much. . .

Irrational fear.

It was too dark-

_What-_

I scrambled upright-

_Where is this._

I gulped in a breath.

No panic-

A light? Anywhere, anywhere at all-

_Is anyone there-no don’t ask._

I didn’t want to know who would answer me back.

Picking a random direction, I ran for it-!

Not…smart, but I hated the place.

I wanted to leave it as fast as possible-

...It must’ve been hours.

Unless time had been skewed because of how freaked out I was-

Yeah, that was probably it.

I burst free into an early dawn.

Steadying myself against a tree, I saw the town.

. . . . . .

What…did I want to do now-

_Remove it._

_Remove the Vampirism-_

I revised in my mind.

_My marks aren’t immediately visible._

My fingers trembled-

_I shouldn’t have…too much trouble._

_Getting answers-_

-I shoved down the worry.

_If-if anything goes wrong, I’ll call them buttonholes._

Having…having that decided, I stepped away from the trunk.

_I don’t know…I don’t know._

_It’s worth a shot._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a happy Saturday!


	19. Where We're Going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey has a promise to deliver on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Nothing that I can tell? Except a ton of ETN spoilers for Season 1 right at the end.

I sat down hard in the grass.

“Joey!?”

My friends-

“Where’s the Plant Guy?”

I could feel Matt leaning over my shoulder.

“He…”

I swallowed.

Feeling sick-

“He stayed behind”.

“He did what!?”

Sierra gasped-

“The vampires were coming…”

I crossed my arms over my chest, the metal of the Sphere pressing into me-

“One of them almost got me-“

I stood up.

“If it weren’t for him….”

“-You would’ve been Bat-Bait?”

Lele.

“Yeah”.

I turned to face them.

“I would have been”.

I drew in a shuddering breath.

“Well…he’ll catch up, right?”

Tim sounded hopeful-

“I don’t know”.

Eva’s voice was laced with doubt.

“He didn’t promise to help us with this. . .”

“…..We barely knew him, even if he seemed decent”, Oli sighed.

We all looked to Alison.

“…….I’m…going to go on ahead”.

She vanished into the green gloom.

….Kinda hard to blame her.

“He’ll catch up”, Tim said, with faith.

“Now if I could just remember where I put my Wallet-“

“You mean the one you stole from Shane?”

“Shhh!!”

Sierra rolled her eyes, but smiled, and I wondered if he’d had an accomplice.

-Aside from Andrea B., who was _definitely_ smirking right now.

“Yeah, so, what’s our next move?”

“And where are we?”

Eva straightened her collar, and her hem-

“You said you wanted to go to the ‘Museum of the Dead’.

You said you were going to ‘explain later’”.

Her eyes were like knives-!!

“Is this it or not?”

“…..”

Giant, sprawling paradise, big, flat house.

“Yeah, this is it”.

“Okay….now why are we here?”

I sighed.

“Okay”.

I reached under my clothes, and removed the precious object I’d been guarding since I escaped Pandora’s Box.

“First, you guys need to know something”.

I pointed to Oli and Eva-

“At the end of the disastrous Dinner Party, only you two and I were left alive”.

“What!??”

Lele’s eyes blazed angry fire-

“Welp”.

Tim shuffled in place.

“……”

Sierra didn’t giggle.

For once.

“What happened?” Matt H. asked-

“Let’s just say ‘Saw’ in real life, isn’t as appealing as you might think”.

I gulped.

“And it didn’t end there.

But we should catch up with Alison-I’ll tell you the rest on the way, okay?”

............................They all exchanged wary glances.

They still nodded.

I breathed in relief....

"Alright".

I led our rag-tag group up the hill.

"The year _after_ we lost eight respected members of the YouTube community in 2016, I awakened in an enchanted forest..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more to go, folks!!


	20. I'm Going To Fix Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Joey and his friends embark on their trip, Envy finally gets the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Vampirism, biting/eating people mention at the end, a bar. Church mention. Testing on people mention.

_Just open the door._

_Just open it-_

My fist hung in the air.

….I couldn’t get up the nerve to grip the handle.

And swing.

Windows along the outside.

I didn’t want to risk a look and see the eyes that might be there.

Staring at the tall idiot shaking in his boots.

Literally.

I got lucky before-

No one was around.

On the outside.

The crackling firelight the only indicator that wherever I was now, hadn’t been abandoned.

_I don’t wanna do this I don’t want to be here_

Of all the times my shyness has to flare up-

Then again, total strangers could be in there!!

I at least knew some of who those _other_ people were.

_Hope they escaped to somewhere safe._

They’d wanted to visit a Museum.

I-

Was torn over whether or not to join.

_.....I'll do it later._

I was no expert on Them and their powers.

The last thing they’d like to deal with is a sudden craving for blood while they’re trying to save their friends!

However that worked.

If it even _would_ work in my case…

A Walking Plant, converted into a Vampire while also pretending to be Human.

At the same time.

It sounded absurd-!

_-Get a grip._

No hysterical laughing in the middle of the street.

…

I slightly undid the nervous knot holding my fingers together.

_You won’t learn anything….if you don’t go in-_

My arm reached-

Unsteadily.

_Just-_

_Just pull it-_

I-did.

-The chimes-!!

“. . .”

I couldn’t-seem to cross through-

Full….house. . . . . . . .

…………………………………….The bar tender gave me the eyebrow raise.

‘Are you going to come in or aren’t you?’

I swallowed hard.

_. . . . . . . . . Why aren’t you moving-_

-I stumbled into a table when someone poked through the door behind me.

_Okay._

_I made it-_

_Kind-of…_

I sat down on the stool, and whacked my elbow.

“Ow-“

At least I didn’t hit my head….that would’ve been even _more_ embarrassing.

“Um…hi-“

“You want to order a drink?”

“No-“

-A menu was plopped down in front of my face.

“Thanks?”

“You want to order?”

“N…o-“

I pushed it aside-

“I was wondering if……you knew anything about…………..vampires?”

“What?”

“So…a friend of mine got bitten recently-“

“You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you”.

“……….”

I….

Should just.

Not. . .

……………………..

“……I mean…why would I do that? I don’t….particularly love the idea of dying-“

Annnnd they weren’t convinced.

I’m-

“R-regardless, do you know anything!?”

“…….”

“………..”

We stared at each other.

_This is awkward…._

_Somebody please say something……._

I inwardly cringed-

“You want the whole textbook definition or what?”

“….No”.

_I’m beginning to think this person has a catchphrase._

“Specific”, they said.

Then they swept up a bunch of used glasses, and disappeared into the back.

“…..”

_…….That could’ve gone better._

-It could’ve been worse.

I still felt some of the arrow wounds…

I could’ve been bleeding all over his counter.

_I don’t think he would’ve appreciated that._

I waited for him to come back. . .

_Maybe he called someone on me…I don’t know……_

I hoped not-

I shifted around.

_When he comes back…_

_Just ask if there’s a cure._

_Nice and simple._

_Then leave._

_Nothing to it-_

Yeah….

-I jumped when he actually reappeared.

My throat froze up.

“-U-Um-“

“-Shouldn’t _I_ be the one intimidated-?”

“Huh-“

_-They're a foot shorter than me._

“O-oh. Well-“

_Rip the band-aid off-_

_So to speak?_

“Do you know if there’s a cure?”

“A cure”.

I thought they were gonna start laughing at me.

“A cure…ah, you’re a funny one”.

“I-“

Funny. . .

“Is there one or isn’t there!?”

-My voice had risen.

We were being…looked at-

I brought it back down:

“Come on-you bar owners are practically living fountains of hearsay, you must have _something”._

“-Never heard it put that way”.

“Am I wrong?”

“….Nooo, you’re not……”

He sighed.

“But the general consensus out there is ‘nobody has a clue’-and yeah, they’ve done tests, the whole nine yards”.

_“What!?”_

-More odd looks.

“…..”

I leaned closer.

“You must be kidding me”.

“Uh-huh…”

Sarcastic.

Great.

“Somewhere, someone _must_ ‘have a clue’”.

“Good luck”.

“Who would know where someone would have a clue?”

“….You’re a vampire antithesis”.

“What-“

“Most vampires - intentionally stay vampires”.

A half-grin-

“That’s why they haven’t found one-they don’t stick around long enough once they've been caught”.

“Ugh”.

_Figures._

_No, I **should have** figured._

“Well if that’s the case, I’ll just do what they won’t”.

“Woah…that’s…..a little dangerous-“

“It was dangerous getting here”.

I got up.

“I’ll go visit a church or something”.

“That is the fastest route to Death-“

_“You_ could’ve been the fastest route to Death”.

I elevated an eyebrow.

“And you haven’t killed me yet”.

“-Yet”, they coughed.

“You had plenty of time from the moment I arrived 'till now”.

“Hey, as long as you don’t wreck my joint, and kidnap all my friends, I don’t care”.

_-That also, should figure._

“Nice”.

I headed for the door.

“Thanks anyway”.

“Have fun”.

I eased it shut behind me, and shivered.

_Did I really-_

_Yeah._

_I did…._

The streets were brighter.

The sun was coming even sooner…..

I was mostly covered, a hurdle dodged.

I really _was_ intending to visit a church.

I had no idea what effect it’d have on me, but it was better than nothing.

I gulped in a breath.

I could barely make out the spire from here-

_This is a terrible plan._

I knew that-

I’d _known_ that the second it materialized in my brain.

_Wouldn’t be the first occasion I’ve risked dying._

Probably wouldn’t be the last.

_What do I have to lose?_

I’d have to deal with it at _some_ point-

I couldn’t spend the rest of my life putting everyone I loved in constant peril of being eaten.

_Let’s…go for it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooo!! Congrats for making it to the end! I think I'm going to try to finish up some other stuff for a while, but I do want to continue this series, it's been a lot of fun, and it's gotten so much love!!
> 
> Thank you guys!! I love you!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

**Author's Note:**

> One more day before school begins. Have this angst.


End file.
